On Sept. 9 Obama Health Care
Speech
By Warren Kelley
On September 9th, in his speech to a joint
session of Congress, President Obama charged that his health care plan had been
attacked with “bogus claims,” “misinformation” and that it had been the victim
of “misunderstanding.”
As he went through the list of these “key
controversies,” he included a number of things we have said, both on the air (Point of View Radio) and in previous
emails. His rebuttals included many half-truths and, according to at least one
Congressman, outright lies. Now it is our turn to ‘set the record straight.’
[Obama’s remarks are in italics.]
Death
Panels
“The
best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts,
but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with
the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it
weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.”
President Obama proposed the creation of the
Institute for Comparative Effectiveness (ICE) and it was funded to the tune of
$1.1 billion through the stimulus bill. The purpose of ICE is to evaluate the
clinical effectiveness as well as the cost-effectiveness of medicines and
medical treatments.
While such an organization is good in theory
(i.e. giving doctors and medical professionals better information about what
treatments work) in practice it has been anything but.
The clearest example of where this is headed
is the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in
Under the public option health plan proposed
by the President there will be a limitation of resources and it will fall to
ICE or a similar agency of the government to determine how those resources are
allocated. President Obama himself stated earlier this year that only people
who will get “healthier” should get treatment. Where does that leave the elderly,
the disabled and those with degenerative diseases?
Ezekiel Emmanuel, Health Policy Advisor,
Office of Management and Budget (and brother to Obama’s Chief of Staff) has
written, “Savings will require changing how doctors think about their patients.
Doctors take the Hippocratic oath too seriously, as an imperative to do
everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others.” His
perspective is, there are limited health care resources and before a doctor
prescribes a test or treatment for one of his patients he should consider if
those resources would be better spent on someone else.
Abortion
In response to the assertion by many
pro-family groups that abortion would be covered by the national health care
plan and paid for with our tax dollars Obama said, “And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up under our plan, no
federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws
will remain in place.”
At times like these I remember Bill Clinton’s
statement, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
It has been argued that the Hyde Amendment would prevent federal
funds from being used to pay for abortions under the health care plan. There is
also the amendment Rep. Capps has offered to specifically say that the health care
plan cannot use federal dollars to fund abortions.
However, this is a distinction without a
difference. The proposed health insurance exchange will be funded by the
federal government as well as premiums paid by individuals and employers. It
can pay for abortions and claim it only used the funds that came from
individuals and employers, not the federal government.
This is the defense that Planned Parenthood
has used for years to defend their federal funding. It is basically the same as
telling us that the government will use federal funds to pay for abortions but
will only use tax dollars that come from pro-abortion individuals.
As to the assertion that “federal conscience laws will remain in
place,” we have never said the health care bill would remove these
protections. The protections were created primarily by an ‘executive order,’
not legislation. The Obama administration made it known earlier in the year
that they planned to rescind that executive order, removing those protections for
health care workers.
Because of the outrage this announcement
generated, the administration has yet to move forward with their plans. This
could be done at any time literally with the stroke of the President’s pen
giving no opportunity for discussion or debate.
Coverage for Illegal Immigrants
Then there is the statement that caused
Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst, “You lie!” President Obama stated, “There are also those who claim that our
reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false the reforms I’m
proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
While the bill making its way through Congress
doesn’t specifically say it will fund health care for illegal immigrants,
the bill does nothing to prevent it and so 
far
any attempt to remedy that problem has been defeated by the Democrats.
As the bill now stands, if someone who is in
the country illegally applies for coverage under the public option there is no
requirement to show proof of citizenship so the application could not be refused
for that reason.
You Can Keep Your Plan
“Nothing
in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the
doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change
what you have.”
Independent experts all agree that the
legislation proposed would result in millions of Americans losing the coverage
they have—the Congressional Budget Office believes several million, the Urban
Institute up to 47 million, and the Lewin Group as many as 114 million.
Increasing the Deficit
“I
will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the
future. Period.”
According to the non-partisan Congressional
Budget Office, H.R. 3200 would increase deficits by $239 billion over ten years
and the legislation “would probably generate substantial increases in federal
budget deficits” thereafter. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation released a study
today [Sept. 10th], which found that in its second decade, H.R. 3200 would
increase federal deficits by more than $1 trillion dollars.
Medicare
“Not
a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.”
“Reducing the waste
and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan. Much
of the rest would be paid for with revenues from the very same drug and
insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new
customers.”
These two statements seem contradictory and
if H.R. 3200 is enacted it would severely damage Medicare. According to the
Congressional Budget Office, the cuts to Medicare Advantage plans included in
the current legislation would result in millions of seniors losing their
current plan. So much for “nothing in
this plan requires you to change what you have.”
Cost
“Add
it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten
years.”
The Congressional Budget Office review of
H.R. 3200 as introduced, found that the legislation would spend approximately
$1.6 trillion over ten years, but what’s $700 billion among friends?
Bi-Partisan
“Well
the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the
season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties
together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent
here to do.”
“I will continue to
seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of
proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open.”
Perhaps it slipped the President’s mind that
on May 13th of this year House Republican leaders all wrote the President a
letter reading in part: “We write to you today to express our sincere desire to
work with you and find common ground on the issue of health care reform….We
respectfully request a meeting with you to discuss areas for potential common
ground on health care reform.” Nearly four months later, that meeting has yet
to take place.
Moving Quickly
“We
will do this by creating a new insurance exchange a marketplace where
individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at
competitive prices. . . This exchange will take effect in four years, which
will give us time to do it right.”
Four years? Isn’t that just after Obama’s
campaign to be re-elected ends? Why is it he doesn’t want the American people
to see what this plan will really do to their health care until AFTER he asks
them to give him a second term?
Conclusion
The debate over health care reform is moving
forward quickly and your congressional representatives will come under increasing
pressure to support the President’s plan. Please contact your Congressman
and Senators right away to let them know where you stand on health care reform.
Warren Kelley is the President of Point
of View Ministries. Point
of View is a two-hour, issues-oriented
live talk radio program heard daily nationwide. Kerby Anderson and the Point of View team cover the full spectrum of issues and
current events that affect our faith, family, government, education, and basic
freedoms from a Christian perspective. For more information regarding Point of View
visit their website at http://www.pointofview.net.
